Buraanbur is our inherited voice against injustice

Yesterday, a woman in Somalia was sentenced to death for brutally taking the life of innocent Sabrine. Before anything else, let me be clear: harming a child is a crime against all of us.

But I can't ignore the other innocent girls whose lives were stolen through brutal violence at the hands of men, and how drastically different their cases were treated.

Where was this swift justice when Luul Abdiasis Jazirah was burned alive, along with her unborn child? We heard excuses: “He should live because he’s never had a child, he needs to have children.”

I ask again, where was this same urgency when Aisha, a young girl, was violently assaulted and murdered by a group of men? Some were spared simply because Somali society could not bear the thought of executing four men. This is what selective justice looks like.

You may wonder: what does this have to do with a space dedicated to buraanbur? Buraanbur was never just for celebration. It was a weapon to speak truth, resist injustice, and call out wrongdoing. Our foremothers had nothing but their minds, their courage, and their ability to weave words that moved nations. They confronted evil with almost no resources and almost no power.

Our foremothers used their voices with far less than we have today. We owe it to them and to our children, kuwa dashay iyo kuwa soo socda, to use our voices, our wealth, our skills, our influence, and whatever else we possess to demand more from the men we share a country with.

We need to fight for equal sentencing for violent crimes, free from gender bias; Independent child protection units, free from clan influence, gender favouritism, or political connections; public records of convicted violent offenders so communities can protect themselves.

Above all, we have a responsibility to raise the next generation of Somali boys with empathy, responsibility, and integrity, not entitlement. Just as we must raise our girls with confidence, awareness, and a deep understanding of their worth, not silence.

To my Somali brothers: carry this with you constantly: addressing this injustice is as much your responsibility as it is ours. Somalia will never truly move forward until the denial of women’s rights is recognized as a Somali problem, not merely a women’s issue.

I leave you with the words of the late Hawa Jibril, Allaah Yarhamha, expressing her disappointment after Somali women were barred from holding any position in Parliament under the SYL government: “Sisters, we were forgotten! We did not taste the fruits of success. Even the lowest positions were not offered and our degrees have been cast away like rubbish. Sisters, was this what we struggled for?”

Rest and play in Barzakh now, Sabrine. You have left this cruel world. You are safe in your eternal home.

Photo: Hawa Jibril - member of the Somali Youth League, poet, mother, grandmother. God rest her soul.